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ARCHLGY 42:Pompeii

(Formerly
CLASSART 42 and
CLASSGEN 60.) The Roman town of Pompeii, buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 C.E., provides information about the art and archaeology of ancient social life, urban technology and production, and ancient spatial patterns and experience. Its fame illustrates modern relationships to the ancient past, from Pompeii's importance on the Grand Tour, to plaster casts of vaporized bodies, to debates about reconstruction, preservation, and archaeological methods.

The course is an introduction to the social organization of material production and to the theoretical, ethnographic, and historical frameworks used by archaeologists to link the technologies of the past to salient sociocultural information about the people who employed them. Comparison of metallurgical, ceramic, lithic, and textile industries in different cultural and historical settings will inform critical discussions of how and to what extent analyses of artifacts, workshops, and industrial installations can provide insight into past societies.

The development of high civilizations in Andean S. America from hunter-gatherer origins to the powerful, expansive Inca empire. The contrasting ecologies of coast, sierra, and jungle areas of early Peruvian societies from 12,000 to 2,000 B.C.E. The domestication of indigenous plants which provided the economic foundation for monumental cities, ceramics, and textiles. Cultural evolution, and why and how major transformations occurred.

Introduces processes of cultural evolution from the Paleolithic to the Three Dynasties in China. By examining archaeological remains, ancient inscriptions, and traditional texts, four major topics will be discussed: origins of modern humans, beginnings of agriculture, development of social stratification, and emergence of states and urbanism.

This course explores many aspects of food in human history from an archaeological perspective. We will discuss how the origins of agriculture helped to transform human society; how food and feasting played a prominent role in the emergence of social hierarchies and the development of civilization; and how various foodways influenced particular cultures. We will also conduct experimental studies to understand how certain methods of food procurement, preparation, and consumption can be recovered archaeologically.

Archaeological studies in contemporary East Asia share a common concern, to contribute to building a national narrative and cultural identity. This course focuses on case studies from China, Korea, and Japan, examining the influence of particular social-political contexts, such as nationalism, on the practice of archaeology in modern times.

This seminar is an exploration of archaeological approaches to the study of economic life in ancient, historical, and recent times. In-depth discussions of ¿economy¿¿and comparison of different approaches to the subject¿will ground examination of economic archaeology¿s unique role, its contributions to the discipline, and its defining characteristics. Selected readings will: (1) train students in essential theoretical and intellectual background, (2) critically explore current research, and (3) furnish a comparative perspective on the role of economy in archaeology.

The post-Soviet story is far from resolved! While national identities and geopolitical alliances are being (re)negotiated across Eurasia, unresolved atrocities continue to reopen old wounds. Within this process the past is skillfully embraced to support and sustain conflicting political discourses. Drawing on a variety of highly topical case studies this course will explore the main dynamics and historically entrenched structures that define how the past plays out in the present since the disintegration of the Soviet Empire.

(Formerly
CLASSART 145.) Why do we care about shipwrecks? What can sunken sites and abandoned ports tell us about our past? Focusing primarily on the archaeological record of shipwrecks and harbors, along with literary evidence and contemporary theory, this course examines how and why ancient mariners ventured across the "wine-dark seas" of the Mediterranean for travel, warfare, pilgrimage, and especially commerce. We will explore interdisciplinary approaches to the development of maritime contacts and communication from the Bronze Age through the end of Roman era. At the same time, we will engage with practical techniques of maritime archaeology, which allows us to explore the material record first hand.